The recently unveiled 911 transcripts shed light on the panic and distress experienced by students, staff, and clergy within a Minneapolis church during an August shooting perpetrated by a gunman in tactical attire.
These documents, accessed by Fox News Digital, feature teachers speaking softly to reassure students, and staff members advising children to remain out of sight at Annunciation Catholic Church, while nearby civilians report the sound of gunfire. The courage displayed by educators and staff as they kept students silent beneath pews and sheltered in a basement classroom is strikingly illustrated.
“Dear God, dear God above, there are guns at Annunciation Church on 54th,” shared Karen McCann, a parishioner concealed in the sanctuary, with a dispatcher.
Law enforcement officers gather outside Annunciation Church following the mass shooting in Minneapolis, Aug. 27. (Tim Evans/Reuters)
Becca Hare, a fourth-grade teacher, confirmed people were injured.
“I’m unaware of how many individuals are present, but there are injured people,” Hare stated. “Stay down, stay down, okay … I’m going to go and assist.”
The calls reveal dispatchers telling the terrified callers to stay hidden as teachers worked to keep students quiet under the pews.
Teacher Diane recounted that she and her assistants were in the basement, where they successfully blocked entrances and took in fleeing children — actions that potentially protected them from stray bullets.
“We were downstairs enjoying crackers when we suddenly heard gunfire … a large number of kids started rushing in because they were running from every direction,” she explained.
“We’re in the church basement, locked in the classroom right now.”
Community members embrace after a shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School on Wednesday, Aug. 27, in Minneapolis. (Alex Kormann/Star Tribune via AP)
Meanwhile, at the end of Hare’s call, she told students that the police had arrived and then she began giving commands to others to move out.
“People just asked if someone was hurt and they said yes,” Hare said. “If you’re injured and you can walk, could you walk?” she said as she tried to evacuate the children.
“Injured are going, we are evacuating,” she said. “We are going to the school, we are going to the school. It’s okay, I promise.”
Outside, two of Westman’s stray bullets also hit the car of motorist Timothy Barnes, who said he was driving by as gunfire erupted.
“I saw a guy start shooting and my car got hit by bullets,” Barnes said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey sits on the steps of the Annunciation Church’s school after police respond to a reported mass shooting, Aug. 27. (Abbie Parr/AP Photo)
Barnes described the shooter as being in all-black tactical gear with an assault rifle, standing “between the school and the church in a green space.”
In other documents obtained by Fox News Digital, police confirm that a death by suicide occurred as part of the same case.
Westman is not named in the documents, which were redacted in accordance with Minnesota state law. Minneapolis police, however, identified him by name during a press briefing following the shooting.
Two children, Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moyski, were killed, and 18 people — 15 of them children — were injured. Sophia Forchas, who was shot in the head is making a steady recovery.
